This isn't just a suicide problem, though.
I mentioned MN to someone last week, because I couldn't offer them any advice. I probably shouldn't have, because of the current troll issues, but I thought they'd get some help.
They didn't. Their first and only post was deleted, because a lot of people reported it. To be fair, it wasn't a standard situation, but there was so much troll hunting that I shouldn't think she'll ever be back. And I know her, in real life, and can vouch that the situation was true.
Wombat is the same. She could have been real. She was deleted and banned without any contact from MNHQ. She had an email saying the thread would be removed so she could get real-life help, which is fine, but no notification of being deleted.
I can only imagine how upset I'd have been if I'd have been called a troll when talking about my actual life. And to be deleted...well, that's MNHQ ganging up with the troll hunters.
For trolls, of course, there has to be deletions, though. And while Wombat's upset seemed genuine, the thread story changed dramatically, so she may well have been a troll.
There needs to be some kind of process that means new people don't fear posting because their situation isn't run of the mill. My life has been crazy in aspects, and I have no doubt that if I posted it, I'd be called a troll. It's all true, though. I could probably evidence it, although I'm not sure I'd bother. And as has been said, running up a posting history doesn't matter - spend a few months replying to everything and becoming well-known, and you could post anything.
Daisy was the key issue here. So many people were taken in with that, because it seemed genuine. And then it started following the usual troll theme...the live updates, the lack of emotion...and people started troll hunting on the thread, which meant nobody could reply, and then the thread went poof and people posted for days asking what had happened. Okay, so she was a long-term user, and she had a reason for posting. But she wasn't being genuine. How did she escape a ban when my friend and Wombat didn't?
This place has a reputation for being somewhere where there is always a helping hand, a listening ear. So people who can't get help elsewhere will flock here, especially with things that they can't help verbalising in real-life.
I worked on a control panel with MIND, and they are clear that for threatened suicide threads, helpful links should be posted and the threads should be closed. They should not turn into a huge thread of people posting supportive messages. Statistics say that if a person is going to commit suicide, they won't want people to stop them, so they won't talk about it. If they do, it'll be a goodbye-to-the-world type post, the online equivalent of a suicide note. Those people can't be stopped.
In the odd case that someone is stopped from committing suicide by a group of people on here, you've created a dangerous scenario. When those people log off and go back to their real life, the suicidal person is alone again, and now feels even more abandoned. That could push them closer to suicide.
Banning those posters isn't the answer, if they need support. But live suicide threads cannot run. They need to be responded too with the Samaritans phone number, and a plea to get real-life help. If there are issues that can be solved in relationships, in health, in any other area, than the user can go there for help. But if they are just threatening suicide, that cannot stand.
We presented these recommendations three years ago, and most forums follow them. There is probably still copies of the guidance available, if you want to read through it in full.
So suicide threads should be easily solved. But the trolling situation needs solving, too.